Judges 1

If the government doesn’t like the decisions that are being handed down by judges then one idea they might consider has just come into force in France. If you think a judge has been incompetent or got it wrong, you can file a complaint, much as any other civil or criminal matter, against him or her. We’ve yet to see this happen but it should be a laugh. The progress of an investigation here is directed by a judge and is the subject of a regime of complete secrecy. Police who leak details of cases are frequently berated by judges whilst at the same time newspapers obtain masses of information directly from judges who hope to enhance their prestige by this means. In the last few days a senior judge has summoned a junior judge to accuse him of leaking the contents of an investigation to the press. It seems that the reporter here (unlike in the recent Guardian case) was happy to reveal the source of the story.